Victims’ relational work in online investment fraud

Abstract

Victims’ participation in online investment frauds is not just justified by egoist desire or greed, but also changing relational frames under uncertainty and ambiguity. Drawing on the concept of relational work from economic sociology, this paper examines how victims of the ‘China–Africa Mining Corporation’ fraud justify and sustain their participation in such a crime of interaction. Based on two years of digital fieldwork, we trace victims’ in situ experiences across three stages of participation. First, victims overcame the uncertainty of investing by drawing on personal relationships and state-sanctioned narratives to construct trust. Second, those who became referrers framed recruitment as an act of care, staking their own credibility on the scheme’s legitimacy. Third, as returns failed to materialise, victims sustained belief through practices of patience, loyalty, and moral affirmation. The paper extends the application of relational work theory to cybercrime and demonstrates how victims’ relational work rendered participation meaningful and defensible.